Ride The Cyclone ★★★★★

Off to southeast London for some clever, slickly performed songs and an entertaining lesson about life and death. Ride the Cyclone was originally conceived and performed in Canada’s fringe theatre over a decade ago and is now having its European premiere at the Southwark Playhouse in London’s Elephant & Castle. The Cyclone in the title is the name of a fairground rollercoaster ride but also a metaphor for life. The show revolves around how its faulty mechanism led to the deaths of several young people, one of whom will get the chance to live again.

So why is now a good time to resurrect an obscure and possibly macabre Canadian musical from 2009 and bring it to London audiences? Will the concept work and connect with them? Is it because we all like to watch a good ghost story with a lesson and some singing thrown in during the Christmas period? The creators certainly hope that this show will start a discussion around death, help us laugh at our own mortality and appreciate the gift of being alive.

With the music, lyrics and book all wittily written by Canadian collaborators Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell, the piece is set in a former mining town in Saskatchewan called Uranium City. The action is driven by a mixed bunch of teenagers who are all members of the town’s choir. These six characters have died in the Cyclone accident and are given the chance of rebirth by The Amazing Karnak, a mechanical fortune teller from the fairground who has the ability to foresee the times and causes of people’s deaths. Karnak feels that he should have been able to predict and avert the accident if only his operator had not set him to Family Fun Novelty Mode. In order to atone for this, he brings the spirits of five named teenagers to the stage to recount their short lives and deaths. He then throws into the mix Jane Doe, named by the coroner because she was wearing the choir’s uniform, but no one came forward to identify her decapitated body after the crash. These six ghosts are told they must take part in a game where the prize is a new life for one of them, and each ghost takes centre stage to explain the life they had in Uranium City and why they deserve to win the challenge using words and music.

Director Lizzi Gee (The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, Made in Dagenham) deftly displays her theatre, opera and choreography experience through some wonderful placement of the actors and the use of a myriad of entertaining props and costumes to their full effect. Full marks to set and costume designer Ryan Dawson Laight (La Cage aux Folles) for hitting the right spot between frivolity and gruesomeness. The audience is seated on three sides with a small semicircular stage containing a revolving floor. The backdrop is the entrance to the now defunct Cyclone ride. Edward Wu (A Little Night Music, Twelfth Night) in the role of The Amazing Karnak sits up in the gods above the broken, half-lit Cyclone sign. He gives humanity to his mechanical form and pulls the narrative together with well-timed levity. He is playing his game with urgency, as he knows he too is due to fail at the hands of a bass-playing, cable-chewing rat. Below him are the teenagers swirling around, on and off the stage, with well-choreographed movement and quick costume changes as each of them comes forward to tell their own background story using humorous monologue and music.

Step forward Baylie Carson (Six, Midnight at the Palace) as Ocean. With the right amount of Head Girl vibes, Baylie belts out their numbers with the confidence of a straight-A student. Ocean knows what she wants and how to get it. Damon Gould (Cabaret, Grease, Kinky Boots) takes the role of Noel. He displays wonderful versatility throughout and makes a very convincing French prostitute during Noel’s Lament, telling of his life and longings. Bartek Kraszewski is making his professional debut as Mischa, the Ukrainian YouTuber with a love of rap music and his fiancée found on the internet. He imbues his character with violent undertones and vulnerability, giving Mischa poignancy and pathos. Jack Maverick is the next actor being inducted into the profession, as he has recently graduated from Italia Conti and plays shy, recently mute Ricky. This he does with gusto, as he enjoys the strange fantasy world of his character (no spoilers!). Space Age Bachelor Man is a hoot, and Jack dynamically gives the song his all. Grace Galloway (Priscilla The Party! Blood Brothers) is the misfit Jane Doe and is always haunting in her scenes. She has the physicality to carry the part of a decapitated girl with a doll’s head precariously placed on her body and an amazing voice that trills sadly through her own ballad. The last actor debuting her skills professionally is Robyn Gilbertson, and her inexperience does not show. As the nice girl with a hidden side, she clearly conveys her character Constance’s self-loathing with confidence and a note-perfect vocal performance. There are sixteen lively, amusing, moving songs in this show which genuinely add to the stories, reflecting the lives of each soul as they get their moment in the spotlight. Every member of the cast can hold a tune, and they never hold back through the show’s ninety or so minutes.

Finally, a special mention must also go to the creatives: lighting design by Tim Deiling, video design by Nina Dunn and sound design by Tom Marshall. They managed to convey the atmosphere of this strange fairground limbo without losing the clarity and balance needed for the audience to enjoy the dialogue and music together.

Polished and honed over many years, this spirited rollercoaster of a musical, takes its audience on a journey with plenty of shake, rattle and roll. A fun but thought-provoking alternative to your Christmas pantomime this year.